Wanaka Genealogy Group

15 April 2020

“Families at War” was our good idea for a display in the library throughout April to remember ANZAC day and also as a reminder of the cost to families of any war. Little did we know that we would be fighting our own war against the Covid-19 virus and our way of doing things would be very different. Not to be discouraged, the members of Wanaka Genealogy Group set about writing their stories in their individual ‘bubbles’ and the display was moved onto the website -
https:// wanakagenealogy.weebly.com/families-at-war.html

We promote the idea of exploring family history through stories. The stories and 1 poem, revisit our
ancestors’ lives during the most difficult of times. We begin with Alexander Whisker in the New Zealand
Wars in 1845; follow Alfred Button during the Crimean War; are taken into the poppy fields for ANZAC Day
with Pippi’s poem; and find out what life was like after WW1. The Avondale Tunnellers, HMS Neptune, an
amazing quilt in memory of George Stewart, plus a glimpse of how it was to be a prisoner of war during
WW2 bring our selection to a close. We can learn lessons from history and be inspired by how our
ancestors coped with these difficult conditions.

Please do have a look and enjoy reading about our ancestors. Are you interested in creating your own
stories? We can’t ask you to a meeting right now but we have a regular newsletter with snippets of news
and ideas for research, a ‘Research’ help page to which you can add your ‘brickwalls’ and have the benefit of group experience, interest group topics, and more.

Contact us via the website https://wanakagenealogy.weebly.com or by email wanarelly@gmail.com